What Your Team Is Thankful For: St. Louis Blues

As the holiday season approaches, PHR will be taking a look at what teams are thankful for in 2023-24. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. We’ll examine what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the St. Louis Blues.

Who are the Blues thankful for?

Drew Bannister.

The Blues made the surprising decision to fire Craig Berube after a dismal 1-5 start to December. In his place, the Blues promoted their AHL team’s head coach – Drew Bannister. And while plenty is being made about the merit of Berube’s firing, there’s been no denying how effective Bannister has been in his new role. The Blues have gone 6-3-0 under Bannister, boosted by tremendous performances from Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou, who have 14 and 10 points in nine games under the new head coach respectively. The push from Bannister has been enough to begin lifting St. Louis out of the depths of the Central Division, with the team passing the Minnesota Wild for seventh place and only one point shy of the Arizona Coyotes’ for fifth in the division. That’s not exactly inspiring for a Blues fanbase that’s only missed the playoffs seven times since 1980 – but positive momentum is all fans can hope for after last season saw the Blues record their worst winning percentage since 2007-08.

But what’s more impressive is that this is Bannister’s first time coaching in the NHL in any capacity. The role comes after four years as a head coach in the AHL that saw Bannister take the Springfield Thunderbirds to the 2022 Calder Cup Championship. It wasn’t his first time reaching a league’s final either, taking the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds to the OHL Championship in 2018. The 49-year-old has proven effective at every level and works his way into head coaching roles quickly. With the early success of his new Blues lineup, there’s reason to think that Bannister could be geared up for a long NHL coaching career.

What are the Blues thankful for?

New and improved goaltending.

The Blues’ goaltending was a sore spot of their 2022-23 season, with both Jordan Binnington and then-backup Thomas Greiss recording save percentages below .900. The season before wasn’t much better either, as the team cycled through five different goalies and only saw true success from Ville Husso. But it seems the Blues are finally finding consistency in the net, with Joel Hofer serving as a tremendous backup to Binnington. Hofer has a…